Why?
by QueenyLeAcH
Summary: "Why did you fall in love with me?" Tootie's eyes went soft, like she was lost in a happy memory.


**Disclaimer: I own the backstory. Nothing more. **

Why?

Timmy POV

Tootie was leaning over her red covered textbook. Her long black hair brushing over it's pages. I remember myself feeling so relieved when Tootie started to act normal around me in middle school. I was glad that she didn't creep me out. I was able to find out what an incredible person she was. We were able to become good friends.

Did I mention she's smart?

It's thanks to her that I made it through middle school. Chester and AJ loved to joke that we would be together forever. It became so normal that it was almost ritualistic. Including me pushing one of them away and putting the other in a headlock until they agreed to shut up … until the next day that is.

Then we managed to get to high school. Chester moved away and AJ skipped two grades. I was left with only Tootie. I mean, she's great and all, the best friend a person could have, and she could make more friends to hang out with, yet she chooses to stay with me and always does what she can. But it's not the same as having guys around.

"Timmy, are you okay?" Tootie asked, pulling me from my thoughts. She was staring at me earnestly from behind her black wire-rimmed glasses.

My blue eyes found her brown ones and I sighed heavily. "I have a question."

Tootie smiled sweetly. "Then ask, silly."

"Why me?" I started bouncing my pen, waiting for her to answer.

Tootie's hand stretched across the table and rested on mine, stopping the pen. "Can you be more specific?" she asked.

"You could be friends with just about anyone and you choose not to."

"I don't want other friends. Timmy, even if you send me away, I'll still be here for you." Tootie took back her hand and leaned over her book again to continue studying.

"Why?"

Tootie threw her hands up in false exasperation. "Again that question. Why do you keep asking that question?"

"Because I want to know," I replied, leaning back in my chair. "So, will you please answer."

"Because you said 'please.' I stay by your side because I like being around you and I don't want you to be afraid of me and run the other way. I figure that if I stay with you it will be easier to tell when that day comes."

I cocked my head to the side, overly long, brown hair falling into my eyes. "Why would I be scared of you?"

Tootie suddenly found something very interesting by her feet. "Why do you keep asking these questions?"

"Because I'm curious. Please, Tootie."

"Because … Well, because I still love you. Now more than I did then." Tootie refused to meet my eyes. It was my turn to reach across the table. For me the situation had turned akward. For Tootie, she must have seen this coming. I shook Tootie until she looked up at me.

I looked into her big, brown eyes and said, "I have one more question. Why did you fall in love with me?" It was a question that had been haunting me for years, even when I was a kid I wondered while she chased me around.

Tootie's eyes went soft, like she was lost in a happy memory. "It started on my first day at Dimmsdale Elementary. No one would talk to me. They would barely even look at me. I was an intruder in their perfect lives. At recess I was sitting on the swing and crying, then the swing was moving. I turned around and saw you prepared to push me forward again. You told me to stop my blubbering and smile." Tootie laughed a little at the memory.

I remember vaguely what she described. I remember a girl crying on the swings and I remember thinking that girls shouldn't cry. That they didn't need to.

"I kept watching you," Tootie continued. "I wanted to get to know you better, to become your friend. But you wouldn't sit still long enough for me to talk to you. When you were done helping one person you moved onto the next. That day I decided that I would be right next to you while you helped others."

"I wasn't always the nicest person in elementary," I challenged.

"I know that even if you do something monumentally selfish you try to make it better, and in doing so, make things better for the people around you. Even if you don't see it."

The bell rang. Tootie gathered her things and headed toward the door. "See you later," she said.

"Yeah," I replied. She was almost at the door when I called to her. Tootie turned around, her hair fanning out behind her.

"Yeah," she said.

"I'm glad you're by my side."

Tootie's face lit up. "Me too." She exited the classroom.

The second bell would ring in minutes and I didn't have time to think about what I just said, so I gathered up my chemistry notes and dashed to drop them in my locker before heading to English.

**What did you guys think of the dialogue? Was it normalish? I have no clue. **

**Anyway, if anyone else has an idea for why Tootie fell in love with Timmy I would love to read it, just let me know in a REVIEW or a PM that you wrote one and I will go and read it. And REVIEW too. ^^**

**So the lesson of the day is …**

**REVIEW**

**-LeAcH**


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